Rwanda Genocide

Rwanda’s ambassador to the U.S. Mathilde Mukantabana will travel to Longview Saturday for a ceremony to remember the country’s horrible genocide 21 years ago.

LeTourneau University business student Charity Mutesi, a native of Rwanda, organized a commemorative walk and ceremony to remember the slaughter that was inflicted on the Tutsi. Some 800,000 people were killed in 100 days.

Mutesi was a toddler when her family fled to Uganda. She wants college students to learn what happened and be more compassionate.

The Cathedral of St. John Berchmans Church in Shreveport is hosting a Roman Catholic priest from Rwanda who will speak about forgiveness during weekend events. Rev. Ubald Rugirangoga lost 80 family members to Rwanda’s ethnic strife, beginning in 1963 with his father’s murder. He says more than 45,000 of his parishioners were killed in the genocide. Today, Rugirangoga is invited to speak around the world about how he has been able to forgive the killers and find inner peace.